7/7 London bombings survivor Gill Hicks plans Adelaide local government run

Updated
Tue 22 Jul 2014, 1:58 PM AEST

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Gill Hicks is keen for a new challenge.

Adelaide woman Gill Hicks, who lost her legs in the London terrorist bombings in 2005, is planning a grassroots political future.

She will contest a seat on Unley Council in Adelaide's inner south at local government elections in November.

Ms Hicks says she is keen to make a difference for her local community.

"I'm up for new challenges in life. It's my community, it's where I now call home," she said.

"I absolutely feel passionate about what I can be doing to, pardon the pun, step up and say 'Okay through my experience what can I contribute?'"

Ms Hicks says she feels no specific need to be a campaigner on disability issues.

She says she is a disabled person who is "doing it" with the challenges she takes on.

The Adelaide woman says her background in the design field makes her mindful of improving accessibility to buildings, ensuring footpaths are safe and promoting features that ensure universal access in communities.

She will run as an independent candidate in Goodwood ward.

On July 7 2005 Ms Hicks lost her legs in the London Underground explosions which killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers.

Ms Hicks was in the same carriage as a suicide bomber on the Piccadilly line.

Twenty-six other people in the same carriage were killed when that bomb detonated.

She was the last victim carried alive from the train wreckage and her heart stopped twice on the way to hospital.

But with enormous determination she made a strong recovery.

She was given prosthetic legs in the months after the terrorist attack and walked down the aisle with her boyfriend the same year.